Saviors of Galaxies
by RUROUNI15
Summary: After reuniting with another member of the original Normandy, Shepard runs across a derelict ship that holds a savior of another galaxy and recruits him for a suicide mission against the collectors.Story is certain events of ME2. Prequel to ME3 crossover.
1. Chapter 1

5

CHAPTER ONE

COLD COFFIN, OPEN CASKET

Joseph Shepard had not felt this happy in a long time. He had just been reunited with another one of his old crew, Tali'zorah vas Neema. A feminine monotone voice resounded from the speakers ruining his good mood. "Commander Shepard, The Illusive Man wishes to speak with you in the briefing room."

"Thank you, EDI," Shepard said sarcastically, as he made his way to the elevator to go down to the second level of the Normandy.

As the QEC activated Shepard saw The Illusive Man. "Shepard, good to see you," he took a puff of his cigar before continuing, "A Cerberus long range com buoy has picked up an S.O.S., signal of unknown origin. And I want you to find it and investigate it."

"What do you mean 'unknown origin'?" fearing that this was another trap the Illusive Man created to flush out the Collectors.

What I mean, Shepard, is that the signal has a coding unlike anywhere in the galaxy – human or otherwise!" The I.M. said slightly irritated.

"I'll check it out." With that, Shepard cut the communication line.

As Shepard made his way out of the com room, he was still worrying that this was just another Collector trap that the Illusive Man was walking him into just like on Horizon. When he reached the door, it opened to reveal a quarian rushing through it and now right at him. After they collided, the quarian landed atop her commander. "Uh…, Shepard, I'm sorry. I have something to tell you and I wanted to catch you before you went to another part of the ship," Tali said, embarrassed as she picked herself off Shepard.

"It's okay, Tali," said Shepard as he stood up. "What is it you wanted to tell me?"

"Back on Haelstrom I picked up an anomaly that seemed to be an S.O.S. signal, but we were not able to investigate it before Geth attacked," she said.

"Thank you, Tali. The Normandy just picked up the signal and I was planning to investigate it," Shepard replied. "I would like to take you and Garrus to search for survivors."

"Sure. Let me go get my equipment together and bring Garrus down to the shuttle bay," Tali said. As she left, Shepard could tell that she was embarrassed by what happened and wondered if the log he heard from her journal on Haestrom had more meaning to it than what he originally thought.

As the Cerebrus shuttle drew near to the derelict ship, they were able to read its name. "Shepard, is there any human ship by that name?" Garrus Vakarian asked. As Shepard and his squad mates wondered who owned it they began to dock with the Forward onto Dawn.

How long had it been the AI wondered? How long had it been since the destruction of the ancient alien doomsday weapon a second time? How long had the ship been drifting through the recesses of space waiting and hoping someone would find the distress signal and send help? The AI turned to face the precious cargo that the corpse of a ship had harbored, a cold coffin, which was holding the savior of a galaxy from untold horrors. Clad in titanic green MJOLNIR armor, the AI decided to use what little sensors the ship still had. It was surprised to discover the readings of what looked to be a shuttle heading towards the wreckage. Things were about to get real interesting soon she thought.

"Be prepared, there is no telling what's on this ship," Shepard told Garrus and Tali. Their beams of light shot off into the cargo hold, illuminating and revealing its contents. The two things that stood out the most were what appeared to be a tank and a light reconnaissance vehicle of some kind.

"Shepard, you're seeing this, too, right? Since when have human tanks used treads?" Garrus asked.

"I think a few years before the Prothean relics were found on Mars," Shepard replied.

"Well, to add to the confusion, my omni-tool is not picking up any mass effect fields on the guns or anywhere on the ship," Tali stated as she scanned the inside of the hold.

"So you're saying that the ship is not running on eezo?"

"To put is plainly… yes."

"Tali, can you trace where the S.O.S. signal is originating from?" Shepard asked.

"I've pinpointed it and by the signs on the wall it is in cryo storage," Tali replied.

"O.K., Garrus, you and Tali go see if anyone is there. I'll go and search for any more information on the ship."

This might not be good, the AI reconsidered. When the shuttle landed in the cargo hold, it used the internal security systems to scan those who disembarked, while happy for one to be human the AI was totally shocked by the other two occupants who were species never catalogued. They might not be species aligned with the covenant, but not yet seen, or vice versa. Never the less the chief needed to wake up, and it began the process of waking its friend from his cold slumber.

5 Minutes Later

The AI watched as the helmet lights flickered and began to move side to side. With incredible speed, the Cryopod's hatch was thrown open and the Spartan appeared through the cold mist. "Cortana, what's wrong," he said.

"Two unidentified aliens coming this way. There was also a human that came in with them, Chief."

She replied quickly, "I suggest you passively take them down. We don't need another intergalactic war on our hands."

The silent soldier nodded and took a small chip out of the console. As he did that Cortana's feminine image disappeared. When Chief put the chip in the back of his helmet, he shivered as it felt like a cold liquid filled his veins as he heard Cortana in his helmet. "It's good to be home." With that, the Master Chief disappeared in the shadows.

"Tali, do you think that you can hack this door?"

"Of course, I can. It will take a minute to sync my omni-tool to the ship's systems if they're still functioning," she quickly retorted. As she knelt down and activated her omni-tool the door slid open. This was a shock even to those who had seen the horrors of the Collectors.

"Uh…Tali, did you do that?" Garrus asked surprised.

"No, I just turned my omni-tool on," she nervously replied.

Garrus readied his Vindicator rifle and entered the room with Tali close behind with her shotgun drawn. After they entered, they noticed that one of the pods was opened and went to investigate it. When they neared it, Garrus said grimly, "This room reminds me of the Prothean Archives on Illos."

"Yeah, it does," Tali somberly said as she looked at it.

"It was opened recently… do you think your omni-tool can tell us when it was last opened?" Garrus asked.

"I'll try, but…" Tali was then interrupted by a loud thud that came from behind them. As they turned around to see what had caused the sound, they saw a figure in hulking green armor staring at them from a blazon visor. Garrus' instincts took over and as he turned, fired a burst from his gun at the figure. To the marksman's surprise however, none of his shots met their mark, for the figure grabbed his Vindicator and tossed it aside. As he did this, he delivered a kick to Garrus' abdomen, which propelled the unlucky Turian into the open pod. Garrus began to raise himself out of the pod when the armored monstrosity slammed the lid of the pod into his head and then Garrus blacked out.

With one threat incapacitated, the Chief switched his attention to the other alien. It was different from the other one. It looked to be female and was wearing a strange suit. It reached behind its back and brought forth a rectangular piece of metal. Few things shocked the Chief, what happened next gave him pause; the hunk of metal expanded and formed the shape of a gun. He sidestepped out of the barrel's way; grabbed hold of the gun and pulled it free from the alien's hands. This caused the alien to lose balance. Master Chief seized the opportunity. He brought the gun down to the floor, used the grip as a hook raking the alien's legs out from under his hand position on the odd gun, and aimed to the side of her head. Before he could ask the alien any questions, he heard the familiar sound of a gun being readied behind him.

Joseph Shepard was trying to open the ship's bulkhead to the C.I.C., but it would not move when he tried to hack it. He wished that either Kasumi or Tali were there to help him, being just a soldier had its drawbacks, but he felt that the more options he was open to in combat paid off. He had sent Tali with Garrus to find the signal to do some thinking about the prior events of the day; hearing Tali's recording in the Quarian bunker and the way that she reacted when they crashed into each other on the Normandy. Shepard realized that he had learned of what had happened to most of his crew after his death, but with the short time, he had met her on Freedom's Progress or Haestrom. Shepard never knew how his death and the following two years affected Tali. Garrus became the vigilante. Archangel on Omega, Wrex, to his knowledge, was still leading his clan on Tuckanka, trying to unify the Krogan. Kadian was promoted and hated that he was working with Cerebrus. Joker had been grounded until Cerebrus recruited him, Dr. Chark was still helping the Alliance before she came to work on the SR-2, and Liara changed almost too much for words to describe; she was nothing like the shy Prothean archeologist he remembered. However, the only thing he knew happened to Tali was that she completed her pilgrimage and went back to the migrant fleet. Shepard told himself that after getting back to the Normandy he should go down to engineering and… Shots interrupted his train of thought as he raced through the ship to locate his friends.

As he reached the cryo chamber, he saw that the door was open. As Shepard rushed in, he saw a gigantic figure in a green armor he had never seen in all his years in the Alliance. Whatever it was, it looked tough, so he grabbed the collector particle beam rifle off his back, if anything could cut through that armor it was his best bet. As he brought the rifle to his shoulder, the figure turned around with lightening speed bringing his captured shotgun to meet him, but neither fired.


	2. Chapter 2

8

**A/N: Sorry it almost took three weeks to get this chapter done. Excuses Finals.**

**I have tried to take into account all the reviews that I have received into writing and editing this chapter. I am sorry about the pace of the story; being my first fanfic and also a prequel to a Mass Effect 3 halo crossover that I want to begin writing and posting as well. I will do my best to make updates weekly during summer, so without further to say enjoy.**

**Chapter 2 Who Has the Crazier Story?**

The Chief turned around and came face-to-face with another human. This might have comforted the Chief if the man was not pointing a gun of some-sort at him and if he knew, where the man's allegiance lied. "Who are you?" the Chief asked in his normal monotone voice. "I am Commander Joseph Shepard of the SSV Normandy. You?" was the reply. The Master Chief almost saluted the officer due to his rank but didn't for was not part of the U.N.S.C. "Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan-117 of the U.N.S.C." The Chief said, keenly observing Shepard's body language in order to see any signs of him being an insurrectionist, but did not see any. To say the least Shepard slightly confused by what he had said.

Cortana's voice resonated inside his helmet, "Chief, I searched all U.N.S.C. ship records both civilian and military; as well as known insurrectionist ships, though there is no record of an SSV Normandy." "Just picked up personal computer signals on all of them. I am going to hack one and see if I can find out anything about where we are." she said with excitement in her voice happy to discover new knowledge. The Chief now turned his attention back to the matter at hand.

"I am going tell you this once; put down that shotgun Spartan and get off my friend now." Shepard said with composure.

The Chief saw the look in the commander's eyes that betrayed how calm he appeared to be. A rage burning there to protect his squad no matter the cost to himself, a look that the Chief had seen in the eyes of many soldiers of the U.N.S.C. during the war against the Covenant. Before anything could progress further Cortana's voice returned slightly frantic," Chief stand down!"

"Are you sure Cortana?" he replied.

"I am, Chief." Cortana curtly answered. Stoically the Chief dropped the shotgun next to its owner and stepped off her.

Shepard holstered his weapon and rushed to Tali's side fearing that in the confrontation with the Spartan that her suit was punctured. As he knelt beside her, Tali groggily began to get up. As he helped her up she said, "Keelah, I feel like I fought a Geth Prime hand to hand and lost."She raised her head and saw her ambusher. "Shepard, watch out! He was the one who attacked us," she exclaimed as she reached behind her for the shotgun that was not there.

"It's okay, Tali, he does not mean us any harm," Shepard said, trying to calm down the frantic Tali.

"Are you sure?" Tali said nervously staring at the gigantic human in bulky armor.

The Chief nodded, "Tali, where is Garrus?" Shepard asked.

"Garrus? He got kicked and fell into that pod!" Shepard turned to see one of the cryopods slightly open with a distinct Turian head shaped dent in the lid. Shepard and Tali hurriedly rushed over and opened the pod fully to reveal Garrus regaining consciousness.

"Anyone catch the name of that Dreadnought that hit me?" Garrus asked while cracking his usual wise-ass smile. That same smile soon faded as he saw the other person in the room.

As he reached for his gun, Shepard stopped him. "It's okay, Garrus," Shepard said trying to reassure Garrus. He hesitated for a second before stopping. After helping Garrus out of the pod, they went over to the Chief.

Shepard was the first to speak, "Now with that settled, I have some questions for you."

"Likewise," the Chief responded coldly.

Before any questions could be asked, EDI's voice came over Joseph's helmet speakers, "Shepard, I'm picking up a Geth Dreadnought's IFF signal moving this way, probably to investigate the distress signal."

"Thanks, EDI," Shepard replied. "Sorry, Master Chief, but we need to move this Q & A to the Normandy. A Geth Dreadnought is moving in to investigate the S.O.S," Shepard told the Chief.

While the Master Chief did not know who or what the Geth were, he did have an idea of the size and power of a dreadnought class ship. "O.K., but I need to get supplies and make sure this ship does not fall into hostile hands as Cole protocol dictates, the Chief responded.

Joseph did not know what "Cole protocol" was, but he didn't have time to ask. "Joker, this is Shepard. Bring the Normandy around to the hangar of the Forward onto Dawn and open the cargo bay," Joseph said into the communicator in his helmet.

"Got it, Shepard. Time to pick up the groceries before the rest of the neighborhood realizes there is stuff on sale," Joker said.

Shepard and his squad finished loading the last of the boxes that were in the derelict ships armory. While most of the boxes seemed to resemble the same design of the ship they were from a few of them had smooth and curved surfaces. With the Chief's help, they moved the LRV into the cargo hold, but didn't have enough time to get the tank in. Joseph turned around to see the Chief working on some weird spiked device. When the light on top of it switched from blue to red, the Chief sprinted to join Shepard and his team on their ship. As the cargo hold door closed, the Normandy sped away from the Forward onto Dawn to the nearest mass relay to wait until it knew its next destination.

Shepard made his way to the elevator with his squad and the Spartan; he wondered why it seemed that the universe loved to put him in "odd" situations like this. His thoughts began to wander as he neared the elevator removing his helmet. Those thoughts led him to wonder what that device was that the Chief was working on before he sprinted to the cargo hold…. "Damn it. It was a …"

An explosion sounded behind the Normandy. The shockwave hit it as Shepard was in midstep, catching him off balance. He fell into something. Instead of his whole body feeling the cold steel of the cargo hold floor, the thing that he landed on was soft. Shepard raised himself up and opened his eyes to see what he landed on. His cheeks flushed scarlet as he saw that he had fallen on top of Tali. Shepard quickly got off Tali and then helped her up. "Uh, sorry, Tali," he said.

"It's okay," she replied.

They awkwardly stood there staring at each other for a minute until Garrus' voice brought them back to reality. "Come on, Shepard, hurry up. Let's get to the com room and get this Q & A started. I still need to calibrate the guns." With that, Shepard and Tali rushed to join Garrus and their "guest" in the elevator, which then headed to the second level.

After what seemed to be a decade the Master Chief stepped out of the elevator, all the human crew turned to see the new passenger on the ship. None of them had seen or even heard of the armor that the new arrival was wearing, even in such a clandestine organization as Cerberus. The Chief had gotten odd looks before, but never like this. It was as if the crew had never seen a Spartan before. He fell in behind Shepard and his squad as they led him to the briefing room. As the Chief entered the room, he saw five more people and two more aliens. Shepard then proceeded to introduce them and their roles were.

The Chief had never heard of a military ship that would have a thief and a psychotic convict onboard as part of his crew. His train of thought was broken when Shepard started questioning him.

"So, Master Chief, what is this U.N.S.C. you mentioned when we… uh… met?"

"It stands for the United Nations' Space Command," Chief relied.

Shepard's XO, Miranda, was next to speak, "The United Nations never had a Space Command. The only Space Command that the whole of humanity has is the Alliance."

For a second the Chief was shocked. There was no U.N.S.C.? Could they be lying or maybe the reason they were working with aliens was that the U.N.S.C. had turned into the Alliance? "What year is it?" the Chief asked. Possibly their reply would answer some of his questions.

Shepard cocked an eyebrow at this, but then remembered the soldier had been cryostasis when they found the ship. "2185," he said.

The Chief looked at his HUD's internal mission clock though nothing gave him solace for it still read 2552. What was Cortana doing? Right about this time she would have explained what was going on to him.

A monotone feminine voice sounded from the room's speakers and a blue orb appeared at the head of the table in the middle of the room. "Commander Shepard, I have detected an unknown AI trying to hack the Normandy's systems. I have set up firewalls, but it seems persistent. It also appears to be localized on the ship now."

"Thank you, EDI," Shepard said. "Please don't try to attack it."

"Very well, logging you out, Shepard."

"Cortana, what were you doing?" asked the Chief using his suit's internal communication system.

"I was trying to verify the data found on their computers. And they are true. To avoid a long interrogation on both sides, I suggest you ask them to let me show them some data about the Covenant on their holographic table," she said.

"Shepard, to make this go faster, my AI, Cortana, needs to use your holographic table," the Chief said.

Shepard really had no idea how to respond. Master Chief's AI, Cortana, was just hacking the ship's system, but now it wanted to help answer his questions more quickly by using some of the Normandy's systems. It may be a trap, but Shepard's curiosity over the Spartan's story won out.

"All right," said Shepard. "Do you need any help bringing it up here and connecting it?" Thinking that the AI's core was in one of the boxes it helped bring aboard. Shepard saw the Chief's head shift slightly when he said this. The Master Chief reached behind his head and removed his helmet. He removed a small computer chip from it. He mentioned it towards the table; a small light flickered between the chip and the table. Shepard noticed that some of his team was raising their eyebrows at this. The holographic image of the Normandy disappeared and was replaced by the image of a woman with computer codes scrolling across her body.

"Hello. I am Cortana," it said.

Before Shepard could formulate a levelheaded question to ask, others reacted not so calmly.

"What the hell are you, you Bosh'tet?" Tali venomously shouted at the Chief and Cortana unsure whether there was someone in the suit or an AI had been controlling it all along. As Tali unsheathed her knife and readied her omni-tool sabotage function, others in the squad got ready for hand-to-hand combat or flared their biotics.

Mordin, however, being a scientist, began a scan of the Chief. "Strange scans read humans, but show signs of intense genetic and bio augmentation. In addition, scans show multiple burn, cut, and ballistic injuries. Surprised he is still alive, scans of armor show an AI equivalent to old human USB port. Interesting," he said.

"Please, let me explain how Chief and I got here before trying to kill us, which I would highly doubt would leave your crew unhurt as he defends himself.," Cortana stated. Shepard gave his crew the signal to stand down even though some were hesitant. "Thank you. Now I ask you to keep your minds as open as possible to the alternative reality theory."

"OK, I'm not drunk enough to believe this shitty story," Zaeed interjected.

Cortana shot the mercenary a piercing glance before continuing. "In the Master Chief's and my reality humanity had just finished a war for its survival against an alien conglomerate known as the Covenant. It began in 2524 and finally ended in 2552. The reason why I believe the Chief and I ended up here is that the Forward onto Dawn's slip-space drive malfunctioned."

"I've never heard of any type of FTL called slip-space that works with the mass relays,"  
said Tali.

"Yes, in our reality there were no mass relays. Slip-space in essence punched through the fabric of reality by creating small black holes. If a drive core is improperly positioned, there are records of ships lost with all hands," replied Cortana. "If there is any doubt about our story I can give you some unclassified documents."

"OK, now you tell us your story," the Chief said coolly, switching the focus onto Shepard.

"Almost forty years ago humanity joined the galactic community. Two years ago I led a team against a rogue Turian Spector, Saren Acturius, who was indoctrinated by a sentient machine race called the Reapers which came every fifty thousand years to wipe out civilizations at their pinnacle." Shepard told the Chief, "right now, human colonies are disappearing in the Traverse because of the Collectors who we believe are working with the Reapers. Our mission is to stop both the Collectors and the Reapers. This brings me to my next point, would you like to join my crew?"

The Chief looked toward Cortana for guidance. All she did was shrug. It was his decision and she would follow him no matter what, but she already knew what he would choose.

"Do you have evidence of these Collector attacks?" the Master Chief asked.

Without saying a word, Shepard activated the video recording collected on Freedom's Progress and Horizon. When they were done, Master Chief looked Shepard in the eyes. "While I don't believe your Reaper story, you have evidence of the Collector's attacking human colonies. I'll join you to stop them."

"It's a pleasure to have you join. There is not a lot of room left so you'll need to be set up in the cargo hold with your supplies. Crew dismissed," Shepard said.

As the crew left, he looked over the last two dossiers the Illusive Man had sent to him and set course for Ilium.


End file.
